Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) and Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) will form a joint venture to own natural gas pipelines and processing facilities in the Marcellus Shale, the companies announced June 12.

The two companies submitted a registration statement to the Securities Exchange Commission proposing an initial public offering for CONE Gathering LLC, a master limited partnership (MLP). CONE will provide midstream services for their jointly-owned Marcellus acreage.

The offering is expected to be completed late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Consol is a Pittsburgh-based company with operations focused on shale formations in the Appalachian basin. Noble is based in Houston and has core onshore U.S. operations in the Denver-Julesburg Basin and the Marcellus.